Were pricey “dancing” commercials worth it to promote D.C. Metro’s new Silver Line?

17 Feb 2015
Posted by Liam Oliver 0 Comment

The D.C. Metro subway system last summer paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote the new Silver Line that goes as far as Reston, Virginia.

Costs included nearly $500,000 to produce a commercial featuring people dancing to celebrate the Silver Line opening.

The spot featured a song by the Australian indie pop band Architecture in Helsinki.

Three additional 15-second commercials cost more than $102,000.

Focus groups on how to promote the Silver Line cost nearly $23,000, while street teams that handed out promotional items cost more than $53,000.

Promotional items for the Silver Line kickoff included flashlights, pennants and bags.

An opening ceremony in July featured regional political figures including the governor of Virginia, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation and the mayor of Washington, D.C.

Three months after the launch of the Silver Line, the new stations were near their goals for numbers of riders.

Watch the Video

Why It Matters

Breakdown of Metro’s funding sources.

The spending on ads and promotional items comes at a time that the Washington Metro subway system is struggling financially. In January, the system announced that it might raise fares and decrease the frequency of trains to reduce funding requested from local governments, which are being asked to contribute an additional $140 million over the next budget year.

The agency noted that increasing fares for bus and rail by 10 cents per trip would generate $22 million in revenue. Increases of six to eight minutes in the time between trains during peak hours also is under consideration.

Opinion One

Proponents of promoting the Silver Line say that after years of negative news surrounding the Metro system — most recently, the death of a woman and dozens of others sickened by an electrical problem in January — public awareness of positive changes is beneficial.

The July opening ceremony provided an opportunity to demonstrate to D.C.-area citizens that management issues and delays didn’t stop the long-awaited Metrorail expansion.

Opinion Two

Critics argue that regardless of positive publicity and benefits that may come from the Silver Line, total project costs are too high. All told, the price tag will be at least $5.6 billion from the federal government, the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority once the project is finished. When the project is complete, possibly as early as 2018, trains will extend to Dulles International Airport.

Other Opinions

Everyone knew the Silver Line was opening, and people were going to use it (or not) with or without these stupid ads. Methinks that if one were to dig deeper there would be something unseemly going on here. Maybe a family member of some WMATA higher-up is trying to break into show biz. – Posted by John Brown on Washington City Paper